Stiff Hair

[tiny_teesha]

I can grab about 40cm of my ends (sholder down, on waist length hair) and hold it upright and it sticks up straight defying gravity. What is that? Strength? Dryness? oil and shea?

It weirds me out. They are ... well were crunchy today they are actually doing ok.

does anyone elses hair do this?

[mira-chan]

Mine used to do this. The last 6 inches or so still do at times. It does this only when the hair is very dry. They fall over when the hair feels like it's in better condition.

[missy60]

My hair actually did do that after it was damaged with bleach. I would put it up in a pineapple and I would actually have to bend it for it to go down. It reminded me of straw sort of and so very dry. Im sure on you it is not from damage so I would think it was strange also

[tiny_teesha]

No it is likely due to damage. Lets say the worst of my hair has been "died" about....at least 6-8 times... LOL!!! That's not including rinses and henna and herbs.

So it is probably due to that. My hair lately the past few weeks have felt really dry.
My hair always sort of acted dry anyway. When i fan it it stays all like matted and like one, instead of acting like individual untangly strands.

I'm hopeing this time round when i grow it it will be in better condition.

So basically to "cure" this i need to pump it with moisture? It isn't soft, the coconut oil on top of it is thought :)

[FrannyG]

It sounds as though you could use some deep moisture treatments, like SMTs. When I went through a phase of my hair feeling really dry, I did SMTs, coconut milk soaks, a mayonnaise treatment, and oiled my hair (not all on the same day :)). After a couple of weeks, while the damage wasn't actually gone, my hair felt like normal hair again.

[missy60]

When my hair was like this while wet it felt sort of over conditioned and mushy, very slick and slimy. When it dried I was left with dry hay hair that wouldnt bend exactly like you mentioned your hair was. If your hair feels like that also I would recommend protein highly it is very porous. I would triple up on the moisture and add a few protein treatments. When my hair was like that I misted it constantly. Did SMT for my washing step a few times a week. I also had frequent small micro trims. I really didnt notice any length gone because I only dusted off the main ends, but I didnt gain very much length either during that time.

[CimarronSun]

Could it be too much protein and not enough moisture?

My hair feels a bit stiff if I haven't been balancing out moisture with protein treatments.

I'm not going to recomment products though because most assuredly, what works for ME will not for you. If you have something on hand that works for you and promises moisture, try that for the next few washes.

[Finoriel]

My ends did this once, that time I used a coconut-shea mixture in winter, let´s say: -15°C + solid fat = solid hair :lol:
But I think you live in a warm place so this might not be the cause of your problem... I never experienced this phenomenon without fat+cold, but I also guess that it could be a build up of something, really dry hair or a combination of both.
You could try a plain yogurt treatment for one hour, usually this makes hair really really soft and moisturized. Just make sure to wash it out really well otherwise it will smell :p bad.

[tiny_teesha]

i do a weekly henna wax and honey mask! I over oil with coconut oil so that essentially at every second of the day it is as if i am doing a hot oil treatment.
Honey is my moisture saver. Ive stopped useing my protein conditioner because i did think it was too much protein. I use now just the moisture one. That mask does have a bit thought and i realise also that so does coconut oil.
YEP I have shea in it!! that may explain it! haha
Wow, so yogurt does good things? I though it was very ... like lactic acid- used for henna removal- harsh??? No?
Maybe i shoudl try yogurt. Worth a shot. Full fat or low fat?

[Finoriel]

Hmm maybe it´s really some kind of solid fat build up, is it an option for you to switch to other oils for some days to check this out? I like jojoba macadamia mixtures (3:1) applied on misted hair in winter ;) also for my skin. But I think other hair friendly oils with a higher viscosity than shea or coconut will also work.
And keep in mind that oil is not moisturizing, it helps to keep the moisture in the hair by building a film around the hair, which prevents the already included water from evaporating too fast. But if there is no moisture in already, it can´t moisturize by itself. So make sure to apply oils on misted or still damp hair for avoiding the crunchyness :)
High doses of honey can dry out the hair also, by the way. Don´t want to scare you, low amounts in hair treatment-mixtures are o.k. but too much left on the hair on a daily basis could dry out. It´s acting hygroscopic that´s why it can "moisturize" (=help to keep moisture longer) but if there is low humidity in the air, it can take the water it "needs" out of your hair instead of keeping it there. Glycerin does this too. Sorry, I can´t describe it better at the moment, maybe some native speaker can help out here or you can google around a bit. Just wanted to say: be careful with honey left on the hair for too long without water or not completely washed out, it can make the dryness worse.
Lactic acid in yogurt is not harsher than hmmm, a AVC or lemon rinse :) and it´s good for the skin / scalp also. Many cosmetic products use small amounts of lactic acid. I never experienced that pure yogurt washes out henna, but if you are afraid about that, you could even mix some spoons of henna into the yogurt, that´s the way I henna now. It´s much more comfortable to put on the hair, it´s not drying, you need less henna than the with other methods with equal colouring and it´s rinsed out faster. I like it.
Low fat yogurt or normal ones seem to work both. Since some months I make my own yogurt with milk from the farm beside us, just working fine :) before I used 1,5% with no difference. So take what you usually have at home, just make sure that it´s not sweetened, with living cultures, don´t leave it on too long (could go sour) but one hour is fine, wash out well. ;) It´s worth a try.
Sorry for the dime novel :D I will never learn to write shorter answers.

[tiny_teesha]

i have jojoba and EVOO. i suppose i could try them. I will start tommorow after i wash my hair after work.
that's the thing my hair isn't crunchy. I also only use oils that penetrate the hairshaft from the studies coconut olive and avo oil does penetrate. Its get absorbed.
It did used to be crunchy but after i BBB it and did my mask the crunchies left.
I'm pretty sure it does get rinces. When i do an ACV i rinse until i begin to feel the slip go away, normally at the roots where the shower hits, then i stop and sqeuuze my hair and wrap a towel around it. I do remember reading about humuctants. I leave honey in my hair as a mask on damp hair with conditioner and henna wax.
no Finoriel, i love long answers!!!
Um ok, is that powdered stuff you make into yogurt yourself ok to use? it is supposed to have live cultures though. So that means no???
i think tommorow after my shower i will do a honey and EVOO mask, and then instead of post shower coconut oil i will use the EVOO. I think i do have too much protein so i am going to try kick it out of my routine a while. Maybe just do a neem rinse to kill germs, and a condition and long mask then ACV rinse? Well no doubt ill do what i feel like at the time.
It is dry here, 39 degrees C!!! sheesh! So maybe i should leave out the honey...

[Finoriel]

Hm hm, I have read parts of the article which says coconut and olive oil penetrate into the hair-shaft. But to be honest, it did not make clear for me how such big molecules could penetrate into something which is built so dense like the hair cuticle... maybe through damaged parts but hmmm... no, I don´t get it. On the other hand, there is no oil inside the keratin structure of the hair naturally (if I remember right) so what is oil supposed to do in there ;) if it can get there?
Yes, humectants are interesting stuff. Unfortunately they are not intelligent enough to decide where to take the moisture and where they should leave it... it´s worth some research.
Powdered stuff to make into yogurt? What is it supposed to do there? Adding milk powder to the milk before it shall become yogurt is just for consistency, it makes home made yogurt more solid if you don´t like the slobbery kind :D . But to be honest I´m not sure what you mean... There are also powdered "starter packs" for yogurt, they contain dried cultures of yogurt bacteria, like dried yeast they come to live when you use them. That´s for starting a culture if you don´t have other ones available. I just bought some fresh yogurt and saved some spoons of it for starting my own one. One more interesting subject worth to read if you are interested in food-history and production, for example here: wikipedia about yogurt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogurt). Hey, 39° that´s almost ideal for the yogurt-bacteria to work :lol: (wow I can´t imagine, that´s really warm!) I prefer living yogurt over the dead coloured ones with added sugar, flavour and sawdust instead of fresh strawberries... but that´s maybe just my attitude. Other´s go crazy when I tell them that yogurt is ... some milk converting bacteria :p and swear they will stop eating it.
Good luck with your plans for tomorrow :) maybe the solution is really easy and using other oils will help immediately. I wish my hair would like EVOO *sigh* that would be much easier (and cheaper) than trying to get the exotic oils around here.

[tiny_teesha]

Well we bought an at home make yogurt kit. mix powder with water. keep it warm, put in fridge =yogurt. I would assume it is indeed a start culture mixed with a thickening agent of some kind??
yep Oz is a scorcher!
Well i trust the research into saying olive oil and coconut oil and avo penetrate. It explains why they work so well for hair. even when gettign henna out useing olive oil with whatever the used had better efficiency in removeing the henna. Woudl explain a little if it penetrated somehow-maybe the moisture/wet/liquidness of it make the scales lift a bit and it goes inside?
awww. It is true, different hair goes for different things!

[tiny_teesha]

First i did a neem rinse.

OK the mask:
microwaved honey
aldi conditioner
olive oil
yogurt (home made from kit)

I mixed about equal amounts of each and put in my hair, the oil was hard to sort of mix. Then i left it in a cap while i watched a movie. rinsed. Conditioned with aldi conditioner, then ACV rinsed. It was supple and soft when wet, but then i rinsed it, i think i lost the effect of the ACV. Either way it is BETTER. My roots are still oily and my ends a less dry then before, but they aren't stiff, they just feel dry compared to the ends.

There's the lowdown. Tommorow i may do another type of mask. I do like EVOO, especially on my nails!!! lol!

[missy60]

My ends are what always give me problems to so I concentrate on those areas with my deep treatments. If your roots are getting oily concentrate on the parts that are dry only. One treatment I hadnt even thought of was on the back of the AOHR conditioner. It said to apply the conditioner to your dry hair 15 mins before washing. I have been using this method for a quickie treatment before a wash when I dont have alot of time.

[tiny_teesha]

i have done that before. I dont see it makes too much difference with me.

eta
ok today i first did a amla fengugreek neem wash *BAD idea*.
Then i conditioned the roots because they were especially tangly...
Then i ACV. It was still horrible as it dried so i hennawax masked the ends.
Then i wated an hour and rinsed. ACV ... Again..
The ends are still nice and soft. I didn't oil. i think i will now with some EVOO (only a little bit tommorow morning i will add more if i like.

so my hair is not soooo dry anymore. I think it still needs even more moisture and babying.

[Faepirate]

My hair does this sometimes. A couple of weeks ago it was HORRIBLE - stiff from about the ears down and I couldn't figure out why! It was all twisted together in clumps, no free movement of hairs. It wasn't oily. Not did it feel particularly dry. Just stiff and clumpy. And this after I had been babying it so carefully! Grrrrrr.

Well I clarified with a Neutrogena clarifying shampoo (I don't like to do this often because it leaves my hair kind of dry even when I saturate it with conditioner and oils) and it really helped. It was much shinier and more flowing. So I am guessing it was some kind of build-up rather than dryness but I still have no idea what...... I checked all my 'poo and conditioner ingredients and I can't see anything that ought to be problematic. So WHO KNOWS! :) Could it be weather/stress/hormone related? I find that the state of my hair changes a lot for no obvious reason. It drives me mad.

[tiny_teesha]

No i just did a bicarb and shampoo (coneless) wash about 2 weeks ago, when i noticed the blech feeling in my hair thinking it was indeed a build up, but that just made it much much worse. It was SO dry after and so tangly....aweful! But yes it is better now. I misted it again and added some unfused oil on the length. I think it just wants a really good rinse, but its 11.17 now and i need to sleep now! got to wake up early tommorow got a loooong day! I will do another hennawax mask and steer clear of honey, just a neem wash and that mask. Plain and simple!
*Sigh!!!!*
Right now, my hair feeling like this, it is stressing me out.

[Faepirate]

Glad it is feeling better than before!! Awww don't let it get to you though, your hair is beautiful and it'll be fine - I reckon hair just has tantrums sometimes. That is the only way to explain some of the annoying things it does. :O
Good luck ^.^

[tiny_teesha]

lol, nice way to put that.
My hair still have EVOO in it and i think it collected some herb with it, so it is tangley gunky today. I think i have to just shampoo it.....its been a good week and a half-2 weeks. I'll get all the EVOO out then i will continue as i am, but with very small amounts of EVOO!! Or should i shampoo out my mask? That may have helped!
My hair is again slightly more softer. I think my hair wanted a change, it used to love protein now i think the summer may have made it get sick of it? maybe!

[tiny_teesha]

I have currently an aloe, honey, conditioner, rosemary mask on.
I decided to go back to coconutoil- much better...i don't think i can survive without it!!!
I'm pretty sure after i rinse off this mask my hair will be much softer. We will see!
I don't want to over kill it...but i do think it needs some moisture it was quite dry and stiff you know? Ive been pretty much neglecting it (not shampooing or coconut and etc)
I think i will rinse and condition and if that doesn't get out the mask i may diluted shampoo my scalp!

***edit.
i rinsed it and it felt really nice- but i could tell it would be oily if i didn't wash it out. So i CWC with a natural shampoo (finally it has been almost a month since i shampoo-d! and then i conditioned again with a natural conditioner and then i WV rinsed, coconut oiled. Still drying! I didn't have a shower cap so some of the honey dried up and i think it stripped those hairs of moisture- my nape hairs are dry .. ah well! We will see how it turns out dry.

***edit
ok it is a bit more dry and its floppy, much floopier- don't know about soft i don't want to kill my waves so i'm not touching it. It looks lighter even though i microwaved it for 30 sec.....

It is better...even so.

***edit- i touched it. It doesn't feel so much softer, but it is behaving bouncier and hydrated i suppose. I don't think that once you damage hair, there is a way back...It will never be as silky, ever. My regrowth feels devine as usual though! Sometimes i just feel like lopping it off to my chin!